Alfajores: Dulce De Leche Sandwich Cookies

June 1st 2009

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I’ll be honest with you–I’ve been hoarding these cookies from you for quite some time. Two weeks, to be exact. These cookies are a little prelude to a little trip that Matt and I will be taking in September to Argentina, for our honeymoon. We had been planning to go to Argentina this past Spring, but when we got engaged in December, we switched gears and decided to make the trip our honeymoon. We haven’t made much progress planning beyond buying a book, our plane ticket and deciding that we’d definitely spend a lot of time in Buenos Aires and Mendoza, and take ‘a bunch of side trips.’ With the wedding now approaching faster than ever, I think it might be time to start cracking open that book!

Alfajores are essentially crumbly, buttery sandwich cookies. Filled with gooey, caramely dulce de leche and delicately dusted with powdered sugar and, in this case, cinnamon, they are Matt’s new favorite cookie. It’s fair to say that whenever I bake something, Matt often exclaims that it’s his new favorite dish, but with these cookies, I’m pretty sure he was beyond earnest. Even I couldn’t resist these little treasures. The most time-consuming part of the cookies is making the dulce de leche–if you’re going to attempt it. I used a recipe that called for pouring it out into a baking dish and baking it for several hours, until it turned a golden brown color. These cookies a traditional Argentinian treat, and making them felt like the first natural step to planning our honeymoon.

The cookies themselves can best be described as dry butter cookies–super crumbly and light. In fact, it was hard to bite into them without making a mess. Once the cookies are done, they’re layered with dulce de leche and dusted with powdered sugar. When I saw the ‘optional’ cinnamon dusting in the recipe, I definitely didn’t skimp, and am glad that I didn’t. You could also roll the sides of the cookies (the parts with the oozy dulce de leche) in shredded coconut. As some readers may know, I’m not a big coconut fan, so I made one for Matt and stuck with the sugar/cinnamon combination for the others.

I’ve yet to experience eating these in Argentina, but I can definitely tell you that reaching into my fridge and opening up the tupperware that housed these for several days felt like opening up an unexpected package every time.

I’m sorry for hoarding. Now that you know how easy these are to make, I hope you’ll take a little trip…to your kitchen.
Alfajores
Recipe c/o Nook & Pantry

1. If you’re using store bought dulce de leche, no need to do anything in advance. I prefer homemade. It’s extremely simple to make, but you’ll need a good afternoon to be by the oven. I used David Lebovitz’s recipe, which turned out superb.
2. When you’re ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a medium bowl, use a hand blender to beat the sugar and butter together, until pale and fluffy.
4. Whisk the first four dry ingredients (start with 1 cup of flour, though) in the recipe together in a large bowl.
5. Beat in the egg and vanilla into the butter/sugar mixture, until combined. Pour in the dry ingredients in several batches, until the dough is well mixed. If it seems like it won’t roll out well, beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s about 1/8th inch in thickness. Use a circular cookie cutter to cut out the cookies and place them onto a cookie sheet, covered with parchment paper. The cookies won’t expand, so you don’t need to leave too much space between them.
7. Bake the cookies for about 14 minutes (check them after they’ve been in the oven for 12). The edges should be nicely golden, but the cookies should still be a light color (they will harden more as they cool).
8. Once the cookies are cool, scoop enough dulce de leche to cover one side of one cookie and top with another cookie to make a sandwich.
9. Generously sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon on both sides.
10. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature for serving (though they’re also delicious cold). Cookies should last for about a week (maybe!)

Musical Pairings: Passion Pit – Manners + Alfajores

These alfajores are the most fantastically delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten. Ever. I was seriously rationing them out so I could savor them for as long as possible. One at lunch. Another after dinner. They were so good, I nearly shed a tear after eating the last one. And although I was tempted to post a Radiohead album with this recipe, and make comparisons to the 10-out-of-a-possible-10 score nearly every Radiohead album receives by most critics (and these cookies deserve), I decided that something a little more upbeat than songs about “kicking, screaming gucci little piggies” was called for in this case. Thus, I selected the most upbeat, bob your head, tap your toes, and get-up-and-dance album so far this year: Passion Pit – Manners. Head over to Musical Pairings @ eating/sf for the full review of the album. –Matthew

Kasey is the food editor and co-founder of Turntable Kitchen. She loves dark chocolate, warm crusty bread, and traveling to new places. She speaks Russian, but does not like vodka.

http://hecooksshecooks.net Brittany (He Cooks She Cooks)

As always, good food and good music. Alfajores are incredible, and you’ll love getting them for so cheap in Argentina. In Buenos Aires, you have to go to Freddo, which is my favorite ice cream place. There are so many great restaurants in that city. Of course the parillas are all amazing, but they have good Moroccan (Bereber), Vietnamese (Green Bamboo) and pizza (Morelia) if you get tired of all the steak.

http://www.blogger.com/profile/05641448576726538534 Kasey

Thanks, Brittany! I really appreciate the Buenos Aires recs! I might shoot you an email closer to our trip to see if you have others in BA and beyond, if that’s ok.

http://www.myfoodrocks.com MyFoodRocks

Never seen a cookie like this before, the filling looks so smooth and I can imagine what it tastes like. Nice photos! Thanks

http://justopia.com/blog Justopia

Yaay for Argentina. I lived in Buenos Aires for a year and a half and wish I’d never moved back.If you want great info about Mendoza, be sure to check out Rebecca Caro’s blog at fromargentinawithlove(dot)typepad(dot)com. She’s got tons of wonderful info and is happy to answer questions.Through out my blogs I have info on Buenos Aires, and just requires a bit of search in the field on either site. Words like empanadas and Buenos Aires and Argentina will pull some photos and recipes for you.Happy travels! It’s a great honeymoon destination for sure!

http://www.blogger.com/profile/05641448576726538534 Kasey

MyFoodRocks: I recently discovered the goodness of dulce de leche–thanks for stopping by.Justopia: thanks so much for the suggestions! I’ll definitely be checking out that site! Thanks.

http://www.blogger.com/profile/03387369904765600870 RecipeGirl

I made these a while back too: http://www.recipegirl.com/2009/03/30/how-to-make-homemade-alfajores/ Loved doing these authentically. I rolled the edges in coconut. Like you, I’m not a huge fan of coconut, but I used the finely chopped dessicated coconut and I found that you really couldn’t taste it all that much with the rich taste of the dulce de leche! A friend of mine brings these back from Chile once in a while- soooo good. You’re going to have a great time in Argentina!

Wowza! Congrats on your engagement. Maybe these can be your wedding favors?

http://www.blogger.com/profile/05641448576726538534 Kasey

Thanks so much, Kari! Umm, I would LOVE to have these be my favors. Unfortunately, it would probably take a week just to make enough! Perhaps, post honeymoon gifts!

http://Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com Anonymous

These cookies look delish… how many cookies will this make. My son is studying Peru at school and I need to make enough for 28 children. Will this recipe make enough cookies?Doris

http://www.blogger.com/profile/05641448576726538534 Kasey

Doris: this recipe probably yields somewhere between 12 – 16 sandwich cookies (somewhere between 24 – 32 individual cookies). If you need enough for 28 children, I would definitely make 2 batches–and maybe even a little extra! I like to store mine in the fridge to keep the dulce de leche cool.